


Kevin Keller's Saturday

by dilangley



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Heart-to-Heart, Multi, Not Just the Gay Best Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9494207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dilangley/pseuds/dilangley
Summary: Kevin Keller had plenty to do. He had already signed his intent to participate in National History Day again this year, much to the delight of his history teacher, and his evenings were a whirlwind of Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri as he played with new recipes in the kitchen. His social scene and sex life, of course, had their own rollicking highs and lows.He loved Betty Cooper, but managing her emotional space was just another item on his plate.Archie wants to fix things with Betty, and he thinks Kevin might have the answer for him.





	

Kevin Keller had plenty to do. He had already signed his intent to participate in National History Day again this year, much to the delight of his history teacher, and his evenings were a whirlwind of Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri as he played with new recipes in the kitchen. His social scene and sex life, of course, had their own rollicking highs and lows.

He loved Betty Cooper, but managing her emotional space was just another item on his plate. They were meeting in a neighboring town for the afternoon to do a little shopping, flirt with some strangers, forget about the grim pall hovering over Riverdale. He wasn’t surprised she was calling early to confirm time and attire.

He tilted the skillet to let the eggs run over the whole surface and glanced over at the pinging cell phone on the counter. His mother’s kitchen was all yellow sunshine, potted plants, and Walmart cookware. Its quintessential, stereotypical small town mix of love and lower middle class budget matched his family life. His parents were out for the day, too, joining the small flood of Riverdalians who flocked to culture on the weekends. 

The phone stopped ringing as he sprinkled parmesan cheese on the setting egg, but in a few seconds, the phone dinged its text alert. Betty must be incredibly concerned about what she was going to wear.

Kevin read the words on the screen, sent by a number not saved in his phone.

_Can we talk? She won’t answer my calls._

Betty might not be the one calling him, but fielding communications from Archie still counted as emotional labor on her behalf.

Kevin sighed and folded his omelet over on itself. If it weren’t for everyone else, his life would be beautifully uncomplicated.

At the kitchen table, he settled in with a glass of orange juice and his plate. He munched at a leisurely pace while scrolling through the latest uploads on Memedroid. After breakfast, he took a shower and got dressed. A nice blue and cream flannel would have been his choice if the weather had behaved and shown a touch of fall, but his phone said it was 86 degrees outside, so he opted for a tee shirt instead. 

He was about to spend a few minutes perusing for a topic for his NHD project when he heard a knock on the door. The formality meant it couldn’t be Betty or Jug; either of them would have walked right in, hugged his parents if they were there, and then tromped up the steps to his room. He would have done the same thing at their houses, except for Mrs. Cooper. He couldn’t think of anyone who would willingly hug Mrs. Cooper.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the door. His whole life he had opened the door without looking first, but Jason Blossom’s corpse made him rethink that choice. They didn’t have a peephole, so he walked around to the living room window and craned his neck to see.

Archie Andrews stood on the front porch, kicking his feet against the white wood and shifting side to side. He was beautiful in the September sun, faux-farmboy chic in dirty, holey jeans, shock of red hair burning every color of a flame.

Kevin walked to the door and pulled it open.

“You’re making house calls now, Archie? We’re not really friends, you and me.”

“I don’t know how else to fix things with Betty.” 

Kevin resisted the urge to sigh dramatically at the not-so-blissful ignorance standing before him. Instead, he stepped aside and swung the door open wider.

“Come on in. Kick off those work boots first, so my mom doesn’t have a panic attack when she gets home.”

Archie obeyed docilely and followed Kevin into the living room. Kevin motioned for him to take a seat in the armchair. Archie’s burgeoning masculinity contrasted with the pink and gold flower print below him, and Kevin admitted to himself that he could see why jaws were dropping for him all over the school. 

Betty’s feelings for Archie were different, disconnected from his new sex appeal. Kevin had been watching her fawn over her best friend since they were too young for such adoration. When they were just sticky-faced kids sharing watermelon at summer birthday parties, Betty had always made sure Archie got his favorite flavor of popsicle. At thirteen, when her braces and glasses combo kept her firmly out of the cool kids’ club, Betty hadn’t minded; she had glowed with pride and joy standing by the wall at her first dance with this glasses-and-braces ginger. Driver’s licenses and abs may have elevated Archie, but to Betty, he had never needed elevating. 

“What do you want?” Kevin asked it simply as he dropped onto the opposite couch. His voice had none of the played-up, stereotypical pitch of the gay best friend. That was a skin he inhabited for fun now and again, but it had no place in this conversation.

Archie rubbed his palms up and down along his knees, reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck, pulled the same hand through his hair. 

“I don’t know. Betty hasn’t talked to me since last weekend after the dance. She’s avoiding me at school, not answering my calls. I see her Snapchat feed and everything. I mean, I know she’s okay. I just…” Archie’s fidgety energy didn’t stop; Kevin wanted to reach out and touch him just to halt the movement. “She’s my best friend, and I feel like I ruined everything. I want to fix things, get back to the way things were.”

The absolute sincerity in his voice left no doubt to his honesty. Kevin had always wondered if Archie was ignorant or cruel when it came to his dealings with Betty. Even now that he had proven ignorance, Kevin felt a hot surge of protectiveness. 

“Did you say anything to her that isn’t true? When you told her you were not going to be with her? When you told Veronica you didn’t feel that way about her?”

Archie swallowed hard, Adam’s apple bobbling. “No. That was all true, but—”

Kevin held up a hand. “No buts. It’s that simple. For years, you’ve been subtle. You’ve never made a move on her or asked her out or done anything, and she’s always wondered if you loved her. She’s been the Eponine to your Marius, and finally, she got brave enough to ask you, and you came down on her hard.”

“And I’m sorry—”

“You shouldn’t be. You are not obligated to love her.” Kevin hated saying that, even though it was Truth with a capital T. “It’s good that you were blunt. Just told her how it goes. And I know it’s not fair for you because you thought your relationship all these years was platonic and for her, it wasn’t. It’s never been. But you don’t get to just take things back to normal.”

Kevin went on. “Normal is Betty being in love with you, and if you’re not going to love her back, you need to let her go. Don’t be selfish and keep her at your side, hoping you’ll change your mind, just so you won’t miss her. She’s been there long enough. It’s your turn to hurt for her, if she’s really your best friend.”

Kevin finished, eyes coolly on Archie. Archie tilted his head to the side, his body totally still now, as though the adrenaline had deflated out of him. 

“So you won’t help me fix things?” Archie’s voice was small.

Kevin shook his head. “I am helping you fix things. You just don’t like what fixed things will look like.”

They held one another’s gaze, and Kevin imagined fictional sparks flying. Instead, after a few seconds, he watched Archie’s face crumple, his chin wobbling, his lips pressing together in a thin line, holding something back. Archie reached up to scrub his face with his hands, trying to hide the evidence of some pain Kevin did not understand.

“I need her right now, man.” His voice shook. Despite himself, Kevin felt bad for him, but he remained firm.

“I can’t help you, Archie.” The finality was clear.

“Okay.” Archie swallowed and stood up. “Thanks for talking to me. I’ll see you around.”

The broad shoulders stiffened as he exited the room. Kevin heard him shut the door gently, and as if a few minutes of silence were too much to ask, he heard his phone begin to ring.

He had no doubt it would be Betty this time, confirming the details of their plans, oblivious to how much he was carrying for her. He scooped up the phone.

“Hey beautiful girl. You ready for a great afternoon?” He played up the fun in his voice that he didn’t feel and earned himself a giggle in return.

Kevin wasn’t ready to put Betty on the back burner just yet, but she had better be ready to pull her own weight when he went through his first heartbreak. He was keeping track of these IOUs even as he tried to forget the haunted look on Archie’s face.

There was more to this situation than Kevin understood, and the mystery of it made his intestines clench.

**Author's Note:**

> I loved a lot of things about the pilot episode of this show and have high hopes for this reworking of my beloved Archie comics.


End file.
